JOIN US"Your smoking is injurious to my health Dad, please do not fill the room with this dirty air, it suffocates me. Please give me a room to breathe." Have you ever thought about the child's agony when his dad lights up that poison stick and smokes in pleasure?
How often have you heard the silence of your one-year-old darling daughter? “Yes, I do care doctor, that's why I smoke outside in the balcony when my child is in the bedroom. I avoid smoking in front of my kids". This is the usual explanation I get from my well-educated patients. Sometimes I realise how less observant we are to our own behaviours. We smoke outside, agreed; but how many of us wash our hands and clean our teeth before we hold our little children? How many of us still hear voices murmuring, "Dad, please do not touch and kiss me with these stinking hands and smoke-filled lips."
But are we justified in smoking inside our homes, and exposing our wife and innocent children to thousands of poisons with every puff that we inhale? Certainly not. We all work in ‘smoke-free offices’, and have learnt to go out and smoke. Fortunately, the government has taken disciplinary actions for “smoking in public places”, which has further led to an awakening among smokers to be cautious in public places and workplaces while lighting up their stick. The government has, unfortunately, not touched upon the situations prevailing at homes, which needs to be addressed.
What is second hand smoking?
First of all, let’s understand what passive smoking is. Passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke [ETS] is a mixture of exhaled mainstream smoke (smoke exhaled by smokers) and side stream smoke (smoke freshly generated from a passively lit cigarette); as well as contaminants that diffuse through the cigarette paper and mouth end of the cigarette between puffs. ETS contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, and is even more carcinogenic than active smoking. Second hand smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution. Tobacco smoke is an irritant and causes eye irritation, headache, cough, sore throat, dizziness and nausea. Adults with asthma can experience a significant decline in lung function when exposed, while new cases of asthma may be induced in children whose parents smoke. Short-term exposure to tobacco smoke also has a measurable effect on the heart in non-smokers. Even 30 minutes exposure is enough to reduce coronary blood flow.
In the long run, passive smokers suffer an increased risk of a range of smoking-related diseases. Breathing second hand smoke for even a short time can have immediate adverse effects on normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of a heart attack.
Courtesy: Complete wellbeing magazine (www.completewellbeing.com)